Word Play
by SokuDragon
Summary: The Detective Boys have created an Agasa-style riddle that is sure to stump even Conan. Sadly, he may have to kill them after he knows the answer. There's implications of a pairing, but it isn't official.


_Word Play_

~AKA: The Mission to Outsmart Conan Using a Word Riddle~

"Ne, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi!" The two children turned to their large friend as he motioned for them to come over to his location. Teitan Elementary was having a lunch recess, and both members of the Detective Boys found it odd that Genta had spent it mulling over something. It seemed he had stopped thinking, however, since he looked quite excited about something.

"What is it, Genta-kun?" Ayumi asked as Genta just flashed them both a mischievous smile. He quickly looked around him, making sure nobody was listening on, before grabbing both of his friends.

"You know how Conan or Haibara are always solving the professor's riddles?" The two stared at him.

"How could we not?" Mitsuhiko asked, narrowing his eyes at his chubby friend. Strangely, this seemed to make Genta smile even more.

"Well, I just made a riddle that neither of them will ever be able to solve!" Mitsuhiko and Ayumi both gasped, until Mitsuhiko stopped at stared pointedly at him.

"Really? The last time you said that, he figured it out, remember?" Genta just grinned widely as he pulled both of his cohorts closer and whispered something into their ears. With each passing second, a grin grew on both of their faces as they nodded in agreement. This was definitely going to stump the both of them.

_After School_

"Conan-kun! Ai-chan!" Ayumi waved to her two friends as they perked up hearing their names. Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi were waiting for them at the gate, and they looked to be incredibly excited.

"Oh, Ayumi-chan. What's up?" The Detective Boys, sans the two not-7-year-olds, just grinned.

"We're gonna go with you guys to the professor's today," Mitsuhiko stated.

"Eh? What for?" Conan glanced at the suspicious looks on all of their faces. They were definitely up to something, but he had no idea what it was. A treasure hunt? Maybe.

"Ah, we were just gonna talk to the professor about something we found out," Genta spoke, still smiling widely.

"So, what're we waiting for? Let's go!" The group of _real_ children cheered in agreement before dashing off towards the professor's house. Conan and Ai glanced at each other, both rather suspicious of their friends. They leisurely paced themselves behind the Detective Boys.

"Ne, Haibara? What do you think they're planning?" The girl in question simply shrugged before looking at the ecstatic children, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

"Who knows? I'm sure it'll be interesting, though." Conan looked rather doubtful, however. What a smart little detective he is, being doubtful of their intentions.

_Professor's House_

"Oh! The children are here today. What's the occasion?" Dr. Agasa exclaimed in a jolly voice. The Detective Boys just grinned—Conan could swear he saw the evil intention behind it—before dragging the professor to the side to whisper something to him. Conan glanced at them from his place on the couch. He had such a bad feeling about this.

"So, what do you think, professor? It's genius, isn't it?" Genta asked joyously as the professor looked rather hesitant about it. He had to admit, they were pretty clever for thinking it up, but he would've strongly recommended they didn't use it. He wanted to be able to see them off to their homes in one piece.

"Well…I _do_ think it's clever, but…"

"But what? It's perfect! They'll _never_ figure it out!"

"I guess so…" The professor said before laughing nervously to himself. He sincerely hoped they _wouldn't_ figure it out. God knows what would happen if they did. Before he could get another thought in, the Detective Boys had already found their way over to the pseudo-children.

"Conan, Haibara! We've got a riddle we _know_ you won't figure out!" Genta announced as Conan merely looked at him. He had heard this one before. Of course, nothing they could come up with could _possibly_ outwit him.

"So? Let's hear it." Smiling, they relayed the newest riddle to him and Ai.

"Two people are in a relationship. Their relationship is known around the school as being scary. Who are the two people?" Mitsuhiko recited as Conan rolled it over in his mind.

'Two people in a relationship…scary…There's no way this riddle is too difficult for me.' Conan mulled it over as the Detective Boys grinned victoriously. Conan's confused face was enough to tell them that they had a chance of winning and that, for the time being, had stumped him. Even Ai looked interested at the confused and less-than-confident look on Conan's face.

Just then, Ran and her best friend Sonoko walked into the door. Everybody turned their attention to the new arrivals.

"Ran-kun? What're you doing here?"

"Ah, Professor Agasa! I came to see if Conan-kun was here. Looks like he is, too."

"Ah, Ran-nee-chan! You came at a good time!" Mitsuhiko shouted excitedly. Ran and Sonoko looked puzzled.

"Why's that?" Genta and Ayumi quickly ran over to the two teenagers and explained the riddle to them.

"Ehh…so that's why the little brat has such a look on his face," Sonoko said before looking at the kid detective.

"But I have to admit, it's a good riddle," Ran smiled cheerfully as the Detective Boys grinned at the praise.

"Would you like to try solving it too, Ran-nee-chan? Sonoko-nee-chan?" Ayumi asked as the two high schoolers just shrugged before nodding. The group stood in companionable silence as they tried to figure the riddle out. Suddenly, Sonoko snapped her fingers.

"I got it!" Everybody in the room looked at her in surprise.

"Sonoko, you figured it out? No way! Usually Conan-kun or Ai-chan figure it out first," Ran said as she looked at the two children in question. They, too, were equally as surprised that Sonoko was the first to figure it out.

"Sonoko-nee-chan, you figured it out?" The kids sounded a tad disappointed. They were sure any second now, Conan would figure it out too. Suddenly, the Suzuki heiress grinned a cheeky smile.

"Although I have to admit, these kids are pretty clever for even thinking it up. I bet even Shinichi-kun wouldn't be able to figure it out." The children visibly brightened at the mere fact.

"Ehh? No way…how are we supposed to figure it out then?" Ran muttered, still thinking it over.

"How about a hint? He wouldn't be able to figure it out because he's a dense idiot," Sonoko blurted, an evil grin on her face. Conan glared at her.

'Well, I'm sorry about that,' he thought sarcastically. Suddenly, Ran seemed to glow for a second. A grin spread on her face.

"I get it now! As expected of the Detective Boys, hm?" She complimented as they just smiled childishly at her.

'No way, even Ran has it figured out?' Conan thought, irritation sweeping over him. How was it possible that he couldn't figure this out?

"Ah, Ai-kun! Could I ask you to go to the grocery store for me? Looks like we're out of food…" Dr. Agasa called from the kitchen as the aforementioned girl stood up from her seat. She answered, went for the door, and shut it softly behind her. The moment the room's occupants were sure she was out of earshot, they turned on the tiny detective.

"So, have you given up yet, Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked, eager to hear him say he had.

"Not yet," he answered, still lost in thought. The Detective Boys just smirked at him, obviously confident that he would never figure it out. If they could get him to give up, or be _forced_ to give up, then they would rightfully own some bragging rights.

"We'll give you about half an hour. If you can't figure it out by then, you automatically give up and we'll tell you the answer," Mitsuhiko explained as Conan confidently agreed to the rules, absolutely sure that half an hour was plenty of time to find the answer.

Fifteen minutes seemed to pass by in a flash as Conan was still without an answer. The Detective Boys waited patiently for him while they played video games, the two teenagers watching them. Conan was determined to give up, but he had gotten absolutely nowhere since he started. Running his hands wildly through his hair, he wanted to just give up. Whatever the answer was, it was probably stupid anyways. The video gamers looked at his reaction to so much thinking and just grinned. They had definitely stumped him.

"Give up yet, Conan? Just admit it, you can't figure it out!" Genta said proudly, poking the detective in the head multiple times. Annoyed at his audience, he just heaved a great sigh. It was pointless to think about it, it did no good. He hadn't gotten anywhere with it, and it was really bothering him. In his mind, he made the criteria for their answer to be something that wasn't completely stupid.

"Fine, you got me. What's the answer?" He just grew more irritated as they jumped for joy, knowing that he had lost and they had won. After a good five minutes of cheering, they decided that his cough meant they should tell him the answer.

"It's Conan-kun and Haibara-san," Mitsuhiko answered, though he clearly didn't like the answer very much. A few seconds passed in silence as Conan let the answer sink into his brain. Once it was definitely sunken in, he jumped. _What_? Everybody noticed his strange reaction.

"Eh ha ha ha…you're kidding with me, right?" Conan asked nervously, hoping to god that was the case. He was awfully lucky that Ai wasn't here right now. His fears were confirmed when the children shook their heads.

"Nope, that's the answer," Genta stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But, _why?_"

"Genta-kun, do you want to answer?"

"Okay! It's you guys because just yesterday, I found this trend that people do where they take parts of people's names and put them together when they think they're together. So, if you take the first syllable in your name—'Co'—and combine it with the first syllable in Haibara's name—'Ai'—you get 'CoAi'. And if you say 'CoAi', it sounds like 'kowai', which means scary!" Genta spoke as if he were proud of his ingenious reasoning.

Conan sat rooted to his spot. He had to admit, very clever, but…that was a rather unexpected answer. A silence passed over them as Conan stared at them in disbelief.

"But, it's just a joke, of course!" Ayumi quickly added in, Mitsuhiko agreeing with her. It seemed their words fell upon deaf ears.

"Well, I don't think it's that bad. I mean, Conan-kun and Ai-chan. It seems fitting to put them together, right?" Ran said happily, thrilled by the fact that her closet OTP was showing. Other than Takagi-keiji and Sato-keiji, of course. Conan couldn't believe his ears. Ran actually supported this?

"But…Ran-nee-chan—"

"But nothing, you little squirt," Sonoko interrupted. "I have to kinda agree with Ran here, you two are like…I don't know. So smart and mature and stuff all the time."

"And you guys are always off talking to each other, away from us!" Mitsuhiko threw in, obviously wanting to make a contribution.

"That's right! Always so in secret…" Ayumi mumbled.

"B-but that just means we're good friends an—"

"Oh? Remember the first day she came to school? She immediately skipped over the seat next to Genta-kun and went over to the one near Conan-kun's seat," Mitsuhiko added.

"And then you kept staring at her afterschool," Genta threw in, grinning.

"Or what about that time we were treasure hunting on Koumi Island and you guys both left us by ourselves?"

"And the time you lent her your hat for no apparent reason?"

"And the _other_ time you lent her your hat at the stadium?"

"How about when Professor Agase got kidnapped and she grabbed your hand? You didn't pull away from her!"

"And then there was that time we went looking for mushrooms and you told me that I shouldn't go after Haibara-san."

"You're always protecting her and talking to her in secret! There _must_ be something going on!" Poor girl looked close to tears. Ran and Sonoko simply stared, amazed that they weren't there to witness these happenings.

"Ohh? Is O-chibi-chan in love?" Sonoko teased as Conan grew red. He looked away from their stares. He honestly couldn't deny any of it, but really, they didn't need to shove it in his face.

"It's not like that…" He muttered off to the side, the rest of the people in the room looking at him doubtfully.

"Oh really?" Genta said suspiciously. Conan just nodded, hoping that they would stop pestering him about it. Sadly, Ai picked the wrong time to walk through the door.

"Ah, Ai-chan's back!" Ayumi exclaimed, all of the attention towards the entering person.

"Haibara-san, did you figure out the riddle yet?" Mitsuhiko asked, his face red for some reason. The girl just shrugged.

"Hm. Sorry to say, it has me stumped. Has Edogawa-kun figured it out?" She didn't even need to ask, the defeated look on the shrunken detective's face told it all. She smirked. He knew she would bother him about this later.

"Nope! Conan-kun couldn't figure it out either," Ran cheerfully added, smiling at her.

"Oh? Seems Tantei-kun has been defeated," Ai added offhandedly, but she knew he heard her.

"Shut up, Haibara." Suddenly, a realization passed.

"Ne, how come Conan-kun and Ai-chan don't call each other by their first names since they're so close?" Ayumi wondered, curiosity filling her voice.

"Hmm…that's true," Mitsuhiko added thoughtfully.

"Well, we can work on that later. Shouldn't we tell Ai-chan the answer?" Ran said, but the horrified look on Conan's face told another story.

"I-I don't think that will be necessary!" However, contrary to whatever he might've said afterwards, they decided to tell her anyway. After a thorough explanation of the riddle, Conan expected the apocalypse. However, something quite unexpected came at him instead. Ai smiled. It looked pretty genuine, too.

"I think you have it all wrong. There is nothing going on between Edogawa-kun and I."

"Is that true?" Mitsuhiko and Ayumi seemed hopeful that it was. She simply nodded before bringing the rest of the stuff back into the kitchen. Conan heaved a sigh of relief as they stopped pestering him.

Soon after, the kids went home. Conan promised Ran he would be home in a few minutes, he needed to speak with the professor for a bit.

"Hey, Haibara?" Without looking up from her magazine, she made a small noise of recognition.

"Thanks." Now she was looking up, obviously surprised by the abrupt thanks.

"And what for, pray tell?"

"For, well…I don't really know. I just felt the need to say it. I guess it's for saving my hide by denying any relationship between us?"

"Oh? I didn't do it to save you, I did it for myself." Conan just looked at her.

"What's that s'pose to mean? Oi, Haibara!" But she was already long gone in her lab. Behind the door, she smiled to herself.

"That idiot."

**FIN**

**Okay, so I figured out the riddle a long while ago. I was browsing through some forums and fics and I saw how some people referred to the relationship between them as "CoAi". I read that a few times, and I was like, "If I say this fast enough, it starts sounding like kowai." In Japanese, the word "kowai" means "scary", so I thought that was kind of funny. **

**Although, I have to admit, their combination would be pretty scary. At least, for criminals. It's like a police force made of two people. Three if you count Dr. Agasa.**


End file.
